David Chen, the Chinatown grocer who has become a cause celebre over his arrest by police on assault and forcible confinement charges for tying up a shoplifter – walked out of Old City Hall court this morning a hero. All charges against him were dismissed.
The public outrage generated by the Chen case has been hard to ignore. His story has made headlines across the country.
Some noteworthy folks outside the usual law and order suspects have rallied to Chen’s cause. Among them local NDP MP Olivia Chow, in whose riding Chen’s Lucky Moose shop is located.
Chow was among the small throng of supporters from the Chinese business community who escorted Chen to court this morning. Chow has introduced a private member’s bill that would allow shopkeepers to detain shoplifters more than the time limit afforded now by the Criminal Code.
It has been suggested in the mainstream media that Chen is the victim of police persecution.
That he was only defending himself and his business when he and two others chased down repeat shoplifter Anthony Bennett, a career petty thief and junkie, and tied him up in the back of a van before calling police.
The judge went further in his decision, saying that the small business owner was filling a policing void in the neighbourhood when he took off after Bennett. Court heard how Chen called police on Bennett and other shoplifters many times before, only to have them arrive two of three hours later.
It’s difficult to ignore the underlying suggestion in all of this: that police abused their authority in arresting Chen.
Certainly, Chinatown has always been a challenge for the Toronto police. Language is a huge barrier. It’s why there was a hiring binge of Asian officers in the 90s. The Chen case illustrates in one way that the cultural divide between police and area shop owners continues to exist. Chen himself speaks little English.
Chen may be a victim of that divide, but also lost in the public indignation around the charges against him is a very important legal principle.
Namely, that it’s the job of the law to protect all citizens, even thieving junkies like Bennett. Justice is supposed to be blind, remember.
